A storage unit in the city of Lleida was one of six depots used by an organisation that supplied cocaine to other criminal groups in Catalonia and that the Guardia Civil dismantled in Operation Showtime, according to the force’s own statement. In that storage unit, officers found 5.74 kilos of cocaine and 28,000 euros, as well as other quantities of drugs in two homes. The Guardia Civil arrested two people in Lleida, according to the same statement.

The lieutenant colonel of the Lleida Command, José Antonio Ángel Gonzalo, highlighted the dismantling of the organisation at the ceremony held on Monday in honour of the Virgin of the Pilar, the force’s patron saint, according to La Mañana. At the same ceremony he reviewed the year in the province.

Lleida’s «guardería»

According to the Guardia Civil, the organisation was based in Barcelona, where its main distribution network was concentrated, while Lleida carried out storage and transport functions. The force confirmed six depots, five homes and a storage unit, used as «guarderías» (nurseries), the term for places used to hold drugs before distribution. Five were in the province of Barcelona and the sixth, the storage unit, in Lleida.

The three searches in Lleida took place in the city, according to the statement. SEGRE specifies that they were in two flats and a storage unit. The drugs were bought in Madrid: the investigation gathered evidence of two supply trips to Getafe in August 2026, in a vehicle with false compartments, and on the way back the drugs were shared out among the depots in Catalonia, according to the Guardia Civil.

The operation

The operation of 30 September resulted in 20 arrests and 23 searches in Barcelona, Lleida, Madrid and Alicante, according to the Guardia Civil, which seized nearly 52 kilos of cocaine, 2.8 kilos of methamphetamine, 1.8 kilos of MDMA and 409,275 euros in cash. SEGRE puts the cocaine seized at 51.7 kilos. The operation had the cooperation of Europol and the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Of the 20 arrests, 16 were made in the province of Barcelona, two in Lleida, one in Móstoles and one in Elche, according to the statement. Officers froze 57 bank accounts, whose total balance is still to be determined, and four properties valued at around 1.1 million euros. They also seized 16 vehicles, two of them with mechanically opened false compartments.

In a home in Sant Boi de Llobregat, one of the main depots, the Guardia Civil found a pistol with its serial number erased and a silencer, together with 12 kilos of cocaine and 50,710 euros. The force has requested a ballistics study to determine whether the weapon was linked to other crimes.

What those arrested are accused of

Those arrested are accused of alleged offences against public health and membership of a criminal organisation, according to the Guardia Civil. The alleged leader is also accused of leading the organisation and money laundering. According to the force, the alleged leader set prices and pick-up points and made new supplies conditional on payment for previous ones.

Seventeen of those arrested were brought before a judge. Thirteen were remanded in custody, including the alleged leader, and the other four were barred from leaving Spain and had their passports withdrawn, according to the statement. The case was placed before the court of first instance in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat. The investigation began at the end of May 2025.

The Spanish government’s delegate in Catalonia, Carlos Prieto, said that «no es suficiente con interceptar la droga; hay que desarticular las redes que hacen posible el narcotráfico» (it is not enough to intercept the drugs; the networks that make drug trafficking possible must be dismantled), according to SEGRE. He added that they did not know how much the group had distributed until then, but knew it would not distribute any more, according to the same newspaper.

The year in Lleida

At the Pilar ceremony, Lieutenant Colonel Ángel Gonzalo said that the nearly 10,000 counterfeit items of clothing, footwear and accessories seized by the Guardia Civil this year in the province of Lleida represent economic damage to the brands of around one and a half million euros, according to La Mañana.

Ángel Gonzalo said that from October last year to October this year the Guardia Civil detected 1,414 offences of smuggling tobacco, currency and goods, with a total value of 267,000 euros. At the customs post with Andorra at La Farga de Moles, a thousand packets of tobacco and 1,494 cigars were seized, according to the same newspaper. The force also carried out 225 mountain rescues and 40 arrests in that period, according to the lieutenant colonel.

Decorations

Eighteen decorations were awarded at the ceremony, including to the head of the Mossos d’Esquadra in the Ponent police region, Commissioner Josep Codina; to Balaguer Urban Guard corporal Sergi Moreno; and to National Police chief inspector David Peinado, according to La Mañana. Plaques were also presented to the Club de Tir Olímpic de Lleida, the Associació Motera Ángeles Verdes, Dr Guillermina Corbella and the Plant Health Service of the Catalan agriculture department.

The Spanish government’s sub-delegate in Lleida, José Crespín, congratulated the decorated officers, saying that behind each award there is a personal story, years of work, responsibility and the realisation that serving the public is much more than doing one’s duty, according to La Mañana. The mayor of Lleida, Fèlix Larrosa, unveiled the plaque for the Passatge de Lleida, one of the twelve internal streets and squares of the Command. The ceremony also marked the 30th anniversary of the first joint event in Lleida of the Guardia Civil Command and the French Gendarmerie.

Sources and verification

Information based on the Guardia Civil statement of 8 October 2026; SEGRE, 9 October 2026; SEGRE, 9 October 2026; and La Mañana, 13 October 2026. The figures for the Command’s annual review come from La Mañana and could not be checked against an official statement. The Guardia Civil and SEGRE give different figures for the cocaine seized: nearly 52 kilos and 51.7 kilos. The sources do not identify those arrested in Lleida.